🇸🇦 Arabic (MSA) #5 Most Spoken Language (335M speakers)

Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) is the formal written and broadcast norm across the Arab world. Words are built from three-letter roots placed into patterns: the root K-T-B “write” yields kitāb “book”, kātib “writer”, maktab “office”, maktūb “written; letter”.

• Right-to-left: Arabic joins letters; shapes depend on position.
• Vowels: short vowels (a/i/u) are usually unwritten; diacritics add them when needed.
• Definite article al- (ال): pronounced with assimilation before “sun letters” (ت ث د ذ ر ز س ش ص ض ط ظ ل ن): e.g., الشَّمْس is spelled with l but pronounced ash-shams.
• tāʾ marbūṭa (ة): feminine ending; sounds like “a” in pause, “t” in construct (e.g., لغةُ العربِ lughat(u) al-ʿarab(i)).
• Emphatics: ṣ/ḍ/ṭ/ẓ have a darker quality; they affect nearby vowels.

• Cases (formal): nominative -u/-un, accusative -a/-an, genitive -i/-in.
• Definiteness: al- marks definite nouns; indefinites take nunation (tanwīn).
• Number: singular, dual (-ān/-ayn), plural (sound & broken).
• Agreement: adjectives follow and agree in gender/number/definiteness.
• Verbs: perfect (past) vs. imperfect (non-past); moods (indicative, subjunctive, jussive).

MSA is used for writing, news, and inter-dialect communication. Everyday speech varies (Egyptian, Levantine, Gulf, Maghrebi…). Speakers code-switch between MSA and dialects depending on context.

• Classical Arabic of the Qurʾān and early literature → modernized standard for contemporary needs (press, education, law).

الشَّمْسُ مُشْرِقَةٌ اليومَ.
al-šams-u mušriqat-un al-yawm-a
the-sun-NOM bright-NOM today-ACC

Root play: K-T-B → kitāb (book), kutub (books, broken plural), kātib (writer), maktab (office), maktaba (library).

أهلًا وسهلًا! Friendly, formal, and widely understood across regions.

• No capitals: Arabic has no uppercase vs lowercase distinction.
• Digits: Arabic uses both “Arabic” (0–9) and “Eastern Arabic” (٠–٩) numerals.
• Broken plurals: many plurals change the vowel pattern, not just add a suffix (kitāb → kutub).